A/N – I own nothing, NOTHING!! I'm not making any money from this, it's just keeping me sane until JKR gets the next book out.
And thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful author (Mr. Milamber!!!) who submitted my FIRST REVIEW! Thank you! I am so incredibly thrilled that someone whose writing I admire saw fit to have a look at mine! Thanks James!!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with his story (Harry Potter and the Mind Mage) it's an absolute MUST read.
Please R&R (I'd really appreciate ALL reviews of this!), but if you flame me, understand me when I say I am a natural redhead, and proud of it...and the Weasley temper doesn't have ANYTHING on mine. CQ
Chapter Three: The Order of the Phoenix
"You may be right," Harry stood. "But it's late. Perhaps the rest should wait until morning."
"I can...how do I get home?" Maura asked, suddenly aware that she had no idea of where she was. "Where, exactly, am I?"
"You're still in London, but it may be more convenient for you to stay here tonight, if you have no objections?"
"I...well..." Maura was confused for a moment. "I don't have anything with me."
"Nightclothes, and a change of clothing for tomorrow, and anything else you might need can be provided."
"That's fine, then." Maura agreed. She was surprised at herself, she seldom chose to stay anywhere but her own home, when she could. Her flat was her bolt-hole, a place where the rest of the world just didn't exist. She dearly needed a bolt hole right now, but she was perfectly comfortable staying in Harry's home.
"Ginny?" Harry turned to the red head. "Could you show Maura to her room and see to her needs?"
"Of course, Harry." Ginny smiled. "You won't be far behind, I hope? You need your rest."
"I know," he leaned down as she passed and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Now, go take care of Maura. She needs it right now."
"And you don't?" Ginny asked, but Maura thought perhaps he didn't hear, because he immediately turned to Ron, the women seemingly forgotten.
Ron watched closely as the two left the room. As the door closed behind them, Harry slumped into a chair and Ron cast a quick silencing charm.
"You okay, mate?" He asked cautiously. Ron knew that in times of great stress, it was unpredictable which way Harry's temper would go.
"Yes, I'll be fine."
"We can go back, you know. A sleeping draught, and obliviate charm, and she's none the wiser."
"And the prophecy, Ron? What then?"
"I don't know, Harry. But this one's got you deep, and I hate to see you like this."
"Our entire world relies on our ability to do this. I know what she's in for. I have essentially asked her to throw away her entire life."
"Not all of it."
"She might as well..."
"Harry, sometimes we have to form alliances with the muggle world. To do that, we need to have contacts there. Just because she's up to her neck in it right now, doesn't mean that she always will be."
Harry stared into the fire. "What if she is, Ron? What if she chooses to be? You know the consequences for her."
"Not much we can do there, mate. Gotta let it play out. I figured you, at least, had that figured."
"Yes. You can't change a prophecy. No matter how hard you try. It always manages to happen anyhow, somehow."
"Right, mate."
"So why," he turned to his friend, his best friend for the last twenty four years, "Why do I feel like I'm murdering Maura Kennedy?"
----------
The next morning, Maura awoke to hear a soft knocking on her door.
"Yes?"
"Maura? Are you up?" Ginny's voice came through the oak slab.
"I'm awake." she confirmed, flinging her legs over the side of the bed and rubbing her eyes.
"Breakfast in ten minutes. Harry needs to speak to you."
"Thanks, Ginny. I'll be right down."
She gazed around the room. It looked different in the bright sunlight than it had the night before by the dim light of the bedside lamp. There was very little ornamentation, it was obviously a guest room. One single bed, a bedside table with a lamp, a small wardrobe, and two doors: one to the hallway and one to the shared bath next door.
She stood and headed towards the second door. A quick shower and she'd head down to speak to Harry.
Nine minutes later, she was jogging down the stairs to the front hall, still tucking her emerald green tshirt into the waistband, and tucking her short blonde curls behind her ears. The clothing had appeared on her bed while she was in the shower. She could only assume that Ginny had put it there.
Strangely, everything had fit perfectly, right down to the bra and panties. She knew that it couldn't be Ginny's, as she had a much more Rubinesque figure than Maura did, who often had likened her own figure to a twig with breasts.
"Good morning," a deep voice startled her from an open doorway. "Ready for some breakfast?"
She smiled as Harry emerged from the room they had spoken in the night before. "Lead the way. Ginny said you wanted to speak to me, so I tried to hurry..."
"I didn't mean for you to hurry!" Harry glanced down at her. "Ginny is very much like Molly...sorry, Molly Weasley, her mother..."
"Yes. I know." Maura confirmed with a grin. "The books, remember?"
"Of course," he glanced away. "Molly is Ginny takes after her in that."
"Are you and Ginny..." she began, remembering the kiss from the night before. It had bothered her for a while last night, until she reminded herself that what Harry and Ginny did was none of her business.
"Ginny and I?" Harry's face showed true surprise. "Merlin, no! She's like my sister!"
"It's just..."
"I know what has been suggested in the books. That was all a very long time ago. Ginny married Dean Thomas. They had three children and twelve years together before he died."
"He died?"
"Dean was killed by Death Eaters five years ago. Defending Ginny and the girls."
"Oh, my..."
"Yes. Ginny came here to...well, to look after things for me, after that. The girls are all in Hogwarts now. Ginny is a trained mediwitch, but she's chosen to put that on hold for now. She's like a sister, and she's my friend. That's all."
"Are you married?" She asked before she could stop herself. What business was it of hers if he was married? Why did she care?
How on earth do you get eyes that colour? She thought, looking up into his intensely green eyes. Was it magic? Or contacts?
"No. I've never been...no. I'm not married."
"Ah...batting for the other side?" She was mildly disappointed. Darn....
"What?" Harry looked confused.
"She means, are you interested in women or the alternative, you dim git," Ron said as he strode past towards, Maura assumed, the kitchen. "And I'd wager that she's the first bird in history to have to ask that of you, you randy bugger."
Maura giggled. Ron had a very in-your-face kind of tact. She was really beginning to like him. She turned her eyes back up to look at Harry, and was surprised to see it turning a lovely shade of crimson as he watched his friend disappear through a door further down the hallway.
"No, I'm..." He seemed tongue-tied. "I mean...I'm not...I like women just fine."
"Ah," Maura nodded speculatively, then turned and followed the scent of bacon in the direction that Ron had gone.
A moment later, Harry followed her into the kitchen. "Ah? What do you mean, 'ah'?"
"Just 'ah'," she replied, sitting down to have Ginny place a plate before her.
"You don't just ask a bloke something like that, then just say 'ah' and walk away!" he grumbled.
"You don't?" she popped a piece of bacon into her mouth, refusing to make eye contact with him.
"No! You don't!"
"Well, I did."
"Well... you can't!"
Maura leveled a look at him. A look that made it very clear what she thought of the word 'can't', as she chewed a mouthful of egg. Ginny really was a very good cook.
"Why not?"
"Because...well...because you just don't question someones...well... then walk away without explaining why you would be... interested." Harry's face was deep red with embarrassment.
At least, she hoped it was embarrassment, and not anger. She suspected it wasn't a smart thing to tick off the most powerful wizard in the world.
"I'm interested, Mr Potter," she said in a deadly calm voice. "Because you brought me here and involved me in this. You've told me that nothing is what it has previously been thought to be by people like me, and I thought that might extend to you. I really don't know any of you from... Merlin. Do I?"
"No..."
"And, if you must know, you're in your mid thirties, apparently reasonably successful, and with looks that could stop traffic. In my world, Mr Potter, that generally means one of two things: either you're already spoken for, or you're 'batting for the other side'."
With this, she stood, placed her now empty plate on the counter and with great dignity, retreated to her room, where she collapsed on her bed, shaking with fear. She had just insulted someone who could, quite literally, kill her with a look.
----------
Back in the kitchen, Harry sat, stunned, while Ron exploded with laughter and Ginny giggled into her coffee cup.
"Do people really think that of me? That I'm..."
"No, Harry," Ginny giggled again.
"What did she mean...." Harry blushed, "never mind."
"You mean the 'stop traffic' comment?" Ginny couldn't stop giggling. "She meant you're very shaggable, Harry."
With this, she practically fell off her chair.
"She thinks I'm..." Harry looked horrified.
"Oh, mate....you really need to get out more," Ron laughed. "Sometimes I think we should have let Cho loose on you. Even Lupin has more of a clue with the ladies than you do!"
"But...she's..."
"She doesn't know that, mate. To her, you 're just some reasonably attractive bloke, single, with a pulse."
"Ron!" Ginny snapped. "I'm sure that that is not what she thinks!"
"But..." Harry was still trying to understand.
"Harry," Ron sat down across from him and leaned in, speaking as though he were addressing a three year old. "She's single, attractive, talented, and clever. And for some reason, she seems to think that you're not repulsive. This, mate, is a good thing. Okay, then?"
"Ron, she's...." Harry's eyes were wide as he looked at his best friend desperately.
"Oblivious to your faults, lad. Another good thing. Enjoy it."
Harry shook his head, "She had to ask me if..."
"She values clarity. Good thing." Ron nodded knowingly. "Women who value clarity are rare, Harry. Really."
"Hey!" Ginny's eyebrows lowered threateningly.
"Sisters don't count, Gin'," Ron didn't even look her way as he dismissed her.
"I'm still a woman, you thick git!" she grumbled as she stood to clear the table of their breakfast things.
"If she was fully aware of who..." Harry shook his head again. "She's not really interested in me. She just thinks she is."
"If you say that often enough, do you really begin to believe it?" Ron leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms on his wide chest.
Harry was tall, and broad, but Ron topped him by three inches and was half again as wide across the chest. The two men together made an imposting team. Ginny, however, was small, like Molly, but was able to cow them both with a look and a threatening sweep of a wooden spoon. Her bat bogey hexes were legendary, and she'd had twenty years to perfect them.
At that moment, two loud pops were heard and Ron and Harry turned from the table to see Fred and George enter the kitchen from the hallway.
"Harry! Ron! Ginny!" Fred walked in and sat down, "Good morning!"
"Any of that bacon left, love?" George peered over Ginny's shoulder.
"Go sit down, you. I'll bring you a plate."
"Not for me, Gin'," Fred called over. "Alicia fed me already once this morning. George, you do realize that people are starting to be able to tell us apart, mate? You could stand to skip that, lad."
"Never wanted to look like you, anyhow, you ugly git," George sat down as Ginny placed a plate with one rasher of bacon and some cut fruit. The look on his face was priceless as he looked up at his younger sister. "Ginny, love, what's this?"
"Angelina called, and told me you were on your way. She warned me not to feed you anything but fruit. The piece of bacon is to show you that I do love you, and have taken pity on you." She smiled sweetly as she turned back to the sink of dishes.
George swallowed, then smiled. "Thanks, Ginny."
"So, is she here, then?" Asked Fred, eying George's bacon.
"Yes. Upstairs." Harry said. "Now, remember, you two! She's here to do a job. There is not to be a word spoken about anything else, understand?"
"Absolutely, mate," said George, swatting at Fred's hand as it made towards his bacon. "She knows? About the prophecy?"
"She knows nothing more that what we have been told to tell her," Ron said in a low voice. "And it had best stay that way until Harry decides otherwise. Got it?"
"Cool your jets, little bro'," said Fred, leaning back in his chair. "Nobody's saying anything. How's she look?"
"She's..."
"Here." Ron stated in an undertone, turning towards the doorway. Immediately they all fell silent. A moment later, they heard her step. Ron's ability to hear things others couldn't had saved their collective backsides more than once.
All four men's eyes were on the doorway as she entered. Maura paused, her eyes moving between the two identical men seated with Harry and Ron at the table. Ginny was watching closely from the kitchen counter.
"Hello. Fred and George?"
The twins looked between Harry and Ron, confused.
"She's read the books, guys," Harry stood, gesturing for her to come forward and sit in the chair he'd vacated. "Come in, Maura. I was just going to call you down. Maura, I'd like to introduce Fred and George Weasley. Guys, this is Maura Kennedy."
"Nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand to the first twin, who appeared to be somewhat heavier than the other.
"George," he said. "Pleased to meet you." Fred followed.
"Maura, please sit down. I need to...clarify some things." Harry's ears tinged pink. Fred sent an inquiring look to Ron, who snickered.
"Later," he mumbled to his older brother.
Maura, noticing the pink ears, sat.
"I've called a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix."
Maura sat straighter, then looked around, dawning recognition on her face. "This is Grimmauld Place, isn't it? Headquarters?"
"Well," Harry sat down next to her. "It's Headquarters, yes. But Grimmauld Place is just another one of those things that aren't really accurate. I don't know if such an address exists in London. If it does, I pity them. I'm sure that they get more than their fair share of visitors!
"This house belongs to me, always has. You're in Potter Manor. It is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and my home. The other members of the Order will be here shortly. Fred and George are the first to arrive."
"How's business?" She grinned at them.
"Uh...fine?" Fred glanced at Harry, curious.
"Fred is an accountant, Maura. George runs a landscaping firm."
Maura shot Harry a look, "But what about..."
"It's part of the books. Nothing more."
"Oh." Maura was a bit disappointed in this.
"What in bloody hell are your two talking about?" Fred asked.
"Fred, the only knowledge of our world that Maura has is from the books that were written about it. She thinks that you and George run a joke shop in Diagon Alley."
"What?" Fred started to laugh. "You're kidding!"
"Your Hogwarts reputation precedes you, as well," Harry smiled.
"You know, Fred," George started. "We..."
"Not on your life, mate! I like being able to pay my bills every month. Besides, Alicia would kill me."
Maura watched the exchange, unaware that two redheads in the room were watching her closely. Ron and Ginny suddenly caught each others' eye and a swift look was exchanged.
"I'm sorry," Maura apologized. "I have to stop doing that."
"What, exactly?" asked Ron.
"Making assumptions based on what I think that I know." She smiled over at him.
"Ah, love, I think your instincts will do you just fine. You just need to learn to trust them," Ron said cryptically, raising his coffee cup to her in salute before drinking deeply.
"So, Maura, many people will be arriving shortly..." Harry began.
"Sorry, do you want me to leave?"
"Leave?" Harry looked confused for a moment. "No, they're coming to meet you."
"Why?"
"Because you've agreed to help us."
"Oh," Maura nodded. "Sorry. I didn't realize...."
"Of course not," he smiled at her. "Tonks and Kingsley will be returning shortly..."
"Kingsley?"
"Kingsley Shacklebolt. You met him last night, with Ron and Tonks."
"That was Kingsley Shacklebolt?" She said, shocked.
"Yes, sorry....I thought you knew?"
"No," she shook her head. "I mean...he seems so young?"
"About fifty, I guess. Why?"
"Well, he seems middle-aged in the books...."
"He wasn't thirty yet when I met him. Tonks is about forty, I guess. Does it matter?"
"Well, no...It's just surprising. When you read a book you...well, you get a mental picture of people, you know?"
"Yes," Harry smiled. "So, what else is different?"
"Ginny. Ron. The twins." Maura swallowed. "It's very disconcerting. The only think that is even close to how I imagined..."
"What?"
"You. You're exactly as I pictured you...only older and, well, larger."
"Larger?" Harry grinned.
"You weren't as tall, or as...well...muscular, in my minds eye."
"Ah."
"Ah?" she enquired with a smile.
"Now don't you start that again," he warned lightly, grinning again.
----------
Twenty minutes later, they were surrounded by a large group consisting of Tonks, Kingsley, Neville Longbottom, Terry Boot, Katie Bell-Wood, Oliver Wood, and two more Weasley's: Bill and Charlie.
"Mum and Dad send their regards, Harry. Dad said he'd catch up with you on Monday," Bill said, eying Maura closely.
"Thanks, Bill. Did you check into that new light ward I asked you about?"
"Yes, it's done with a mirror charm..."
As Maura tuned out their conversation, she watched the others in the room,. Two more people apparated in, an elderly witch and a tall, thin wizard in dark robes. Something niggled in a corner of her mind. She should know who these people were.
Another two, younger witches apparated in, then two more wizards.
"Seamus! Lee! It's wonderful to see you!" called George from across the room.
The older witches eye caught hers and Maura thought she saw a moment of...something. At that moment a voice at her elbow startled her.
"Maura? You okay?" Ginny laid a hand on her arm.
"All these people..." she turned a smile on Ginny. "I've read of them, and they're real."
"Yes," Ginny smiled back at her, her brown eyes searching Maura's face intensely. Maura thought it odd, but then Ginny continued. "Are you okay, though?"
"I'm fine. Just getting accustomed to it. Ginny, who are those two? The elderly witch and the wizard with the black robes?"
"You mean you haven't figured that out?" Ginny's eyes danced. "That is Headmistress McGonagall and Professor Severus Snape."
Maura drew in a short breath, then swallowed. That was it, then. She really was in...this place. She surreptitiously pinched her thigh. It hurt, but she didn't wake. She looked up into the twinkling blue eyes of Minerva McGonagall.
"Did it work?" the elderly witch asked quietly.
"I'm sorry?"
"It's only...I do it all the time," the elderly witch confided. "So often, in fact, that I end up with a bruise on my thigh. But I never wake up."
Maura smiled and blushed. "Was it that obvious?"
"Only to me," Headmistress McGonagall said. "And only because I know that feeling. Very, very well."
"You're Professor McGonagall. I'm very pleased to meet you. I'm Maura Kennedy."
"Are you now?" McGonagall studied her for a moment. "Mr you then?"
"You could say that," she smiled, glancing in Harry's direction to find him watching her closely. "He's very determined."
"You really have no idea," McGonagall said in a rather dry, resigned tone. "The times I chased that trio down...I'm amazed I'm still lucid at times."
Maura laughed. She liked this witch.
There were several loud pops as others apparated in.
"Ah, yes, I believe we are all here now, at least all who are expected. Harry, I believe it's time we moved into the War Room..." she moved towards away from Maura and towards the hallway.
"Yes, of course, Professor." Harry replied, heading towards the hallway and encouraging others along with him.
"Silly boy. Been out of school for nearly twenty years and still calls me that." McGonagall shook her head fondly, watching Harry through the group as he turned back and stepped toward them.
"Maura, before we begin, there is someone I'd like you to meet," he pulled her to the side to allow others to move past them.
He led her towards a middle-aged man standing off to the side of the kitchen. He was fiftyish, or maybe a little older, and wearing a pair of faded jeans and a sweatshirt emblazoned with an Oxford University crest.
"Remus? Remus..." Harry approached and the man turned to shake Harry's hand.
"Harry, how are you?"
"Good, Remus. Very good. I wanted to introduce you to our guest. Maura Kennedy, Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Maura."
Remus looked at her oddly for a moment, almost as though he was trying to place her. He then thrust out a hand to shake, and smiled.
"Miss Kennedy, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"So, you're the non-werewolf?" She smiled, encouraged by the twinkling of his eyes.
"Ah, yes. You've heard, then." Lupin smiled self-consciously, a tinge of pink to his cheeks that hadn't been there before. "I must admit, I've benefited greatly over the last few years. I had no idea there were so many...curious...women."
"Remus, behave." Harry smiled, shaking his head.
"Ginny told me you were a bit of a wolf, despite what others say." Maura teased, liking this older man. She could tell he had a sense of humor, something that she hadn't considered before. Remus Lupin always seemed like such a tragic figure in the books.
The books. They were so very different, yet so very accurate. It was scary.
"Did she now?" Remus' eyes darted around the room, coming to rest on the youngest Weasley. "Now, that is good to know. The young lady in question has been avoiding me. Perhaps my unwarranted reputation has preceded me."
Maura laughed outright. No one here was truly as she had imagined them.
